No excuses for Allen after tough-luck 9th

CLEVELAND — For most of the ninth inning, Indians closer Cody Allen did his job. He generated a pair of infield choppers and induced a weak popup. Baseball, however, has a history of turning a series of flukes into an offensive firestorm.

“It’s a weird game sometimes,” outfielder Brandon Guyer said after Cleveland’s stunning 10-7 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday night.

Leading up to a ninth-inning meltdown that came at Allen’s expense — a rally that culminated with a grand slam off the bat of Adam Eaton — things were set up perfectly for the Tribe.

Carlos Carrasco had worked into the seventh inning, the offense had answered a pair of pushes by Chicago’s lineup and setup man Bryan Shaw turned in a seamless eighth to have the Indians poised to walk away with another win. After Allen took over for the final frame, with Cleveland clinging to a 7-5 lead, the powerful righty struck out Justin Morneau with one of his signature knuckle curves.

“We put ourselves in good position,” said Allen, who entered the night with a 1.19 ERA and 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings in his past 30 appearances.

Things quickly came unglued for the Tribe, which was without the services of ace reliever Andrew Miller for this game due to his recent workload.

Chicago’s five-run ninth began when Todd Frazier pulled a fastball from Allen sharply into the hole between shortstop and third base. Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor ranged to his right, gloved the ball on the run and threw across his body …

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